The Child at Heart
by sordidicons
Summary: The gang gets mojo'd back into children. This is a collaborative effort between myself, and my friend Kate.
1. The Child at Heart

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Disclaimer: The characters in this story are not mine, I'm just borrowing them for a while so that they get to play.

Prologue   
  
Buffy rolled over onto her other side. The sun, which was streaming through her windows, was interrupting her day of sleeping, and no training. After a few minutes of trying to go back to sleep she finally gave up and stepped out of bed. Needless to say she was puzzled when she fell, and landed on her butt. "Ouch, note to self, no fighting vamps right after waking up, Buffy has no coordination." Sighing she got up and reached for the sweatpants lying on the floor next to her. "Man these are big, since when do I shop in the big and tall section?" It was then that she looked in the mirror. "No fucking way." Buffy stared at the reflection in the mirror, it was her, but that wasn't the bad part. The fact that she looked like she was about 10 years old was what was wigging her out. "Looks like I'll be going to the library today after all." Buffy groaned, then proceeded to rip apart her room, looking for clothes that would fit her now tiny frame.   
  
  
**Part One**   
  
Buffy walked into the library to find two children sitting at the conference table talking to Giles. The red head turned to look at Buffy when she heard the doors of the library open. The brown-headed boy continued to talk to Giles.   
  
"Oh no, you too!" Willow sighed when she took in Buffy's appearance.   
  
"Will? Xander!? What's going on? I wake up to find that I look like a ten-year-old! I didn't like being a child, and I certainly don't want to go back to 5th grade!"   
  
"I'm afraid that you may have been put under a spell of some sort." Giles said. Just then they heard the library doors slam shut and a brown haired girl and boy approached the table.   
  
"Hey Cordy." Willow said as the two approached.   
  
"Oz!" Buffy exclaimed. "Wow, you look so…different."   
  
Everyone looked at Oz; he hadn't quite grown into his ears yet. Oz just shrugged.   
  
"Well now that everyone's here we can try and figure out what's going on." Giles said, going to the card catalogue to find some books.   
  
"It's not enough that we look like The Little Rascals, but we have to research as well?" Xander whined, everyone just shot him annoyed glances.   
  
"Well if you want to look like Spanky for the rest of your life..." Buffy said.   
  
"Fine." Xander hopped off the table and they all started their research.   
  
  
**Part Two**   
  
"Bloody hell, I should have guessed." Giles slammed down the phone and stalked off into his office. Unaware of the five pairs of bewildered eyes that followed him.   
  
"Wonder what that was about." Buffy said, closing her book and getting up to go talk to Giles. Just then he came charging out of his office, crossbow in hand.   
  
"Whoa, G-man, what's with the weapons?" Xander asked, and then hid in his seat when he saw the menacing look he got for calling Giles "G-man".   
  
"Giles, what's wrong?" Buffy stepped directly into his path, stopping him from leaving the library.   
  
"That bloody sot Ethan did this. It's part of a deal with the mayor. He's expecting a shipment of some sort, to do with the ascension. He wanted to make sure that you couldn't interfere. The good news is that the spell wears off in about 48 hours, so you all should be fine to go to school on Monday." A collective groan escaped the group. "Now if you'll get out of my way, I have someone to kill." Giles started to move forward again.   
  
"No way you get to have all the fun!" Xander jumped up and ran over to the weapons locker.   
  
"Yeah, I'm going with you too." Buffy grabbed the sword from behind the counter.   
  
"Us too!" Willow, Oz, and Cordy exclaimed, as they too went to get weapons.   
  
When they were all sufficiently armed the started to head out of the library. Just then Angel walked out from behind the stacks.   
  
"Why are you all armed to the teeth? What's happened? And why are you all children?"   
  
"Sorry deadboy, this is a private hunting party. And since it's daylight, I guess that means you aren't included, such a shame." Buffy shot a menacing glance at Xander, then explained what was going on to Angel.   
  
"Well, have fun killing him, sorry I can't help." Angel waived, kissed Buffy on the top of her head, which was level with his stomach. Then went back to the sewer entrance through the stacks.   
  
"Let's move out!" Xander said in his best military voice, and they all left the school in search of Ethan Rayne. 


	2. TCAH

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Disclaimer: Still not mine, just borrowing them…blah blah blah

Part 3   
  
Angel walked away from the library, careful not to step in the unidentifiable stuff lining the sewer path. He was heading for the mansion, and couldn't shake the feeling someone was following him. He extended his senses, and turned and punched the intruder in the gut.   
  
"What the bloody hell did you do that for? You sot." A very familiar British blonde looked up at the dark haired vampire.   
  
"Spike? What are you doing here?"   
  
"Do you always give your guests such a warm welcome?" Spike asked, avoiding the question.   
  
"My guests? What are you talking about, Spike. Why are you here? Is Dru with you?" Angel was very confused.   
  
"Dru? Nah. She went off with that damn chaos demon, and I haven't seen her since. It's not that bad though. There are SO many more entree choices now that I'm single." He grinned. "How's life treating you, mate?"   
  
Angel was really confused. Why was Spike there? And what confused him more was that he and Spike were having a normal conversation. To the casual observer, it would look like they were friends, although why a casual observer would be down in the sewers in the first place is another matter entirely. Just then, a flash came out of no where, and the two vampires were tossed like rag dolls into the sewer channel.   
  
  
**Part 4**   
  
Spike came up sputtering first. He pulled his sodden body over to the side of the channel, and got out of the water.   
  
"Bloody hell, what was that? Oh, I'm wet! I HATE being wet! I go to all this trouble to stay out of the rain most of my un-life, and now I get tossed into the bloody sewer. Showers are okay, though, but I hate being really wet .ARG!..." He broke off as Angel, who had just surfaced, stared at him. "...WHAT?"   
  
"Spike, calm down." Angel looked surprised. His voice had dropped about a notch and a half. He cleared his throat and tried again. "The water will dry." It didn't work. His voice was higher, and just then, he noticed.... his clothes didn't quite fit anymore. And, his hair was a mess. He hadn't looked at his childe since before the flash.   
  
"Um, Angel?" Spike's voice was higher, too.   
  
"Yeah?" "You're little."   
  
"Spike, this is no time for demeaning comments. You know perfectly well that I'm not little." For some reason, he didn't want to fight.   
  
"No, not that kind of little. Little little. Height wise." The blonde looked up. "And my clothes don't fit right."   
  
"Spike, stand up." Angel pushed himself out of the murky sewer, and stood on the ledge. Spike complied.   
  
Standing before him, was a brown haired, blue eyed, 10-year-old boy.   
  
  
**Part 5**   
  
The slayerettes regrouped at the library, finding no sign of Ethan. They were talking loudly amongst themselves, when the door to the sewer was pushed open. Buffy went up to look, and let out a gasp.   
  
"What the..." She returned to the main library, followed by two young boys. "Um, guys...our friendly neighborhood vamps have a slight problem as well."   
  
"Oh, gosh. You guys are ... tiny. And young. And, Spike! Your hair! It's..."Willow stuttered.   
  
"Brown." Oz filled in.   
  
"Giles, um, is there anything you can find about ... this?" Angel gestured to himself and his childe.   
  
"And could you get us some clothes that bloody fit?" Spike asked, annoyed.   
  
"Spike, none of us have clothes that fit." Buffy said, as she gestured towards the newly shrunken group. Spike looked up; finally noticing the rest of the Scooby Gang was in the same predicament his sire and he were in.   
  
"Who did you piss off this time?" He asked with a sigh.   
  
"Hey, Mr. I-only-own-one-set-of-clothes, at least we have a reason for being here. What's yours?" They may have taken her body away from the prom queen, but she still was the same old Cordelia.   
  



	3. TCAH

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Disclaimer: If they were mine I certainly wouldn't have made Spike into a vampire, I like his manly bits thank you…but they aren't mine.

Part 6   
  
The entire group stared at Spike, waiting to hear why he was there, and also what happened to them to change them into children as well.   
  
"Well I think that the first thing we need to find out is if Angel and Spike are still vampires, since they are now at an age that is before they were turned." Giles said, looking expectantly at Angel and Spike. The two boys just looked at each other and shrugged then tried to vamp out. They tried, and then they tried again.   
  
"Um, why can't we change?" Angel finally said after trying three times to vamp out.   
  
"Just as I expected, because your bodies are younger than when you were changed, you are no longer vampires. Very interesting...I'm quite sure the council will want to hear about this…" Giles trailed off as he started towards his office to write down the events so far.   
  
"Screw the bloody council!! I want to be a vampire again!" Spike whined with disgust.   
  
"Hmm, well don't worry, as soon as the spell wears off you should return to being, a, well a vampire again." Giles told the distraught ex-vampire.   
  
"And when does the spell wear off?" Angel asked.   
  
"48 hours from when it was cast." With that Giles retreated into his office.   
  
Angel and Spike just stood there in shock. Neither knew what to do, they hadn't been human in over 200 years. It was definitely going to be something to get used to. Just then a realization hit Angel.   
  
"The sun! We can go out into the sun! And Buffy we can, well, you know, and I won't lose my soul!" Angel grabbed Buffy's hands and swung her around in a circle.   
  
"Angel!!" Buffy screamed, turning bright red at what he had just said. Then she too laughed, and hugged him fiercely. The both looked at each other, then hand in hand they ran out of the library laughing. The rest of the group watched the whole event with wide-eyed wonder.   
  
"Buffy I…where'd Buffy go?" Giles asked as he came out of his office.   
  
"She and dead...err, Angel went off to hump like bunny's." Xander said the elbow to his stomach from Cordy coming too late. "Owww…that hurt!" he said rubbing his stomach.   
  
"Err, ummm, well…" Giles took off his glasses and started to clean them nervously, not knowing quite what to say. He looked up suddenly, "Can they do that?" Then walked back into his office to break open the secret bottle of Scotch he had hidden in his desk. If there was anytime that he needed it, now was it.   
  
  
**Part 7**   
  
"…and so I came back here." Spike finished recounting his story as to why he had come back to the only person left in the library, Willow. Xander and Cordelia had left some time ago to go shopping for clothes to wear while they were that small, because as Cordelia had said, "There is no way I'm going to look like a misfit for the next 24+ hours." Oz had gone, because he had to practice with his band. How they would take his looking like a child, he wasn't quite sure. Giles had left about twenty minutes into Spike's story because he had run out of Scotch.   
  
"Wow, so she just left you? How mean, I mean geez, you save her life, and she dumps you? I knew she was psycho, but this just makes her, well, um, a big meanie!" Willow exclaimed.   
  
"Tell me about it. Thanks for listening luv, I haven't been able to really talk to anyone for the longest time, well anyone alive anyway."   
  
"So since you're human now, or at least for a little while, isn't there anything you want to do?" Willow asked, curious as to what Spike would want to do.   
  
"Well, as the big poof said we can go into the sun now, I think I might like to go do that."   
  
"Oooh!!" Willow hopped up and down in her seat. "We can go to the park, or the zoo, or-"   
  
"the beach!! I've never been to the beach during the day, could we do that?" Spike said with exuberance.   
  
"Of course!! Come on, we'll take a quick trip to the mall to buy swimsuits that'll fit, and then we can leave tomorrow morning, since it's too late to go now." Willow planned. "Oh, and we'll go to the store and buy food to make a picnic lunch and everything!!"   
  
"Hmm, eating real food, haven't done that in forever either, could we maybe buy grapes? I used to love them when I was lil. My mum would give them to me as a snack when I was being really good." Spike smiled, remembering the days when he was a small child.   
  
"Sure, whatever you want. Come on, let's go now, we can take the bus!" Willow grabbed Spike's hand, and dragged him out of the school, and towards the bus stop.   
  
  
**Part 8**   
  
The next morning Willow came downstairs from her room dressed in her bathing suit and a pair of shorts, carrying her top and towel in her left arm, and a tube of sunscreen in her right. She found Spike sitting at her kitchen table, already dressed, and chowing down on a large bowl of Lucky Charms. It had been decided that Spike should just stay in her guestroom since her parents were out of town.   
  
"Good morning!" Willow said cheerfully, and Spike looked up at her, his spoon frozen inches from his mouth as he took in the girl before him. Although her body was only 10, she had already started to mature, and it was evident in the bikini, which she wore. The white material gave her skin a healthy glow, and she had just enough breasts to give the top shape. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail on the top of her head, and her hazel eyes were sparkling.   
  
"Um, morning." Spike managed to drag his eyes away from her body, and stuff the spoonful of sugary goodness into his mouth.   
  
"Spike could you, I mean if it isn't too much trouble, maybe do my back?" Willow asked sheepishly.   
  
"Huh?" Spike was confused, and then he saw that she was holding out the tube of sunscreen at him. "Oh, yeah sure." He got up and took the tube from her hand and squeezed a small amount into his hands and rubbed them together. He then proceeded to smear the greasy stuff all over Willow's back.   
  
"Thanks." Willow said over her shoulder as he rubbed it in. "I'll do your back if you want."   
  
"No thanks, I'm gonna try and get myself a tan while I can." Spike said as he finished, and wiped his hands on his swim trunks.   
  
Spike dumped the rest of his cereal down the drain, then helped Willow pack up the beach bag they were taking, and the picnic basket with their lunches. When everything was packed Willow and Spike slipped on their shirts and sandals, then headed to the bus stop to catch the bus to the beach.   



	4. TCAH

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Disclaimer: I think you get the point by now that they aren't mine and never will be.

Part 9   
  
They met Buffy and Angel there, both looking really pissed off.   
  
"Buffy! Hi! What's up?" Buffy glared at Angel.   
  
"Not him." She replied.   
  
"Hey, it's not my fault I'm only 10 and that stuff doesn't happen for awhile!" Angel shot back, unaware of Spike.   
  
"Em, mate? You mean we can't ... ?" He looked at his sire.   
  
"No, Spike. We can't get the log up, much less flog it."   
  
Willow sputtered at his use of language. Buffy glared.   
  
"Never mind. We are 10 years old, and we are gonna enjoy it." The three not-so-mystic creatures looked at the young slayer. "When you were 10, what did you miss out on?" She asked Spike.   
  
"Friends, a life, a mother..." He rattled off.   
  
"Fine. Spike: today, I order you to have a childhood. It may be the only chance you get."   
  
  
**Part 10**   
  
The four friends took off towards the ocean. After about an hour of cavorting around in the waves like the children they currently were, they trooped over to the ice-cream stand.   
  
"Vanilla."   
  
"Chocolate."   
  
"Strawberry."   
  
"Peanut Butter Banana."   
  
The friends looked at Buffy.   
  
"What? A girl's gotta be weird sometime."   
  
The witch, and the two ex-vampires rolled their eyes.   
  
"Luv, you could never be un-weird." Spike said, licking his cone. She grinned.   
  
"Thank you, Spike. I'll take that as a compliment."   
  
He looked at her. "I meant it as one, pet."   
  
"Oh. Um, Spike?"   
  
"Yes, slayer?"   
  
"Don't call me pet."   
  
Angel and Willow looked after the two bottle blondes, and sighed.   
  
That's when it hit them.   
  
  
**Part 11**   
  
"OOH! That REALLY hurts!"   
  
"Would you bloody shut up!"   
  
"Jeez, Spike. Chill."   
  
"Sorry, Slayer. My head hurts."   
  
"No, shit, sherlock. Mine does too."   
  
"Tsk, tsk, slayer. Such language for a 10 year old."   
  
"Bite me, Spike."   
  
"Really?" He quirked an eyebrow.   
  
"Spike" she sang. "You can't even if you wanted to. You're not a vampire, remember?"   
  
"I remember. I think I gotta take a pisser."   
  
"Thanks. That's something I SO needed to know."   
  
  
**Part 12**   
  
"Spike, it's been hours. What do we do now? We've already played thumb war like, 50 million times, and we've arm wrestled, now what?" Buffy was whining. And it was gettin' annoying. Really annoying.   
  
"We could fuck."   
  
She looked at him and quirked an eyebrow. "Scuse me?"   
  
"You heard me, slayer...oh, wait. We can't. I can't get my dick up. Sorry, Willie. No action tonight." Spike was sarcastic, and starting to go mad.   
  
"Spi...whoa." Buffy felt all tingly inside.   
  
"Slayer, what's wrong?"   
  
"I ... ooh...don't ... know...aah!"   
  
Suddenly, in a flash of light, an 18 year old Buffy was sitting next to him.   
  
"Oh, shit." Buffy looked down at the cover up she was wearing over the bathing suit, and realized she was in wedgie hell, and the cover up was just barely covering up what it was supposed to.   
  
Spike, however, was in heaven. He looked at Buffy's full breast, barely covered by the scrap of clothing she was wearing. Bloody Hell she was hot. And she was sitting right next to him. BUT HE COULDN'T GET HIS BLOODYCOCKUP!!! Spike was ... aggravated. They sat that way for about an hour, Spike trying to take a peek, and Buffy trying to hide.   
  
"Ut oh. Slayer."   
  
"What do you want, Spike?"   
  
"I think my pants are shrinking.


	5. TCAH

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Disclaimer: They all belong to the mighty bastard Joss Whedon, all hail his amazing brain.

Part 13   
  
Willow rolled over on the hard cement floor.   
  
"Uggg, stop the world I want to get off." She moaned, her head spinning. She gingerly touched the back of her head. She inhaled sharply at the pain it caused. "No blood, well that's good." She sighed, looking at her fingers. Very slowly she started to sit up and take in her surroundings.   
  
She was in some sort of cell, no windows, on door, most likely locked, and she wasn't alone. Cautiously she crawled over to the body sprawled on it's stomach on the other side of the room. Ignoring her swimming head she turned him over.   
  
"Angel?" Willow gently patted his cheeks trying to get him to wake up.   
  
"Willow?" His eyes snapped open and he bolted upright. "Arrrrrg!" he clutched the sides of his head and collapsed onto the floor again.   
  
"You're not going to yak on me are ya?" Willow asked, scooting away from him.   
  
"No, I'm okay, just give me a second." He slowly sat up, trying his best to ignore the pounding in his brain. It had been over 200 years since he'd had a headache, and for his first one, man was it a doozy. "Where are we?" He looked around the cell.   
  
"Not a clue. All I know is we were whacked with some sort of magic at the beach, and I woke up here about 5 minutes ago."   
  
"Where are Buffy and Spike?"   
  
"Again, not a clue, but wherever they are they're probably together. So I guess that means it's just us for however long it takes for the person who kidnapped us to come back."   
  
"Yep, or we starve to death, or worse, we change back and my demon overpowers my soul and I feed from you."   
  
"Hey! There will be no feeding of any kind from me! We'll get out of here before that happens, so there will be no talk of killing right now, or, or ever."   
  
"But Will—"   
  
"Hush, see my resolve face…there will be no feeding."   
  
Angel just shook his head. "So, what do you want to do?"   
  
"I don't know, what do you want to do?"   
  
"Whatever you want to do."   
  
"Well, if we keep doing this we'll never get anything done." They both looked at each other and cracked up laughing, the pain in their heads magically disappearing.   
  
  
**Part 14**   
  
"…on a desert island with John Cusak, with no hope of rescue." Willow finished.   
  
Over the past two hours they had played I never… Truth or Consequences, Thumb Wrestled, and they were now playing Anywhere But Here.   
  
"So Angel, if you could be anywhere but here, where would you be?"   
  
Angel crossed his legs and sat across from Willow thinking for a minute. "At home with my parents and sisters."   
  
"Really? Wow, so you miss them huh?"   
  
"Sometimes, mostly I feel guilty about killing them, so I'd just like the opportunity to apologize to them for being such an ass."   
  
"That's so ahhhhhhh." Willow clutched at her sides.   
  
"Willow? What's wrong, are you okay?" Angel leaned forward and held onto hew arms, then a flash of white light consumed the young girls body, and sent him tumbling to the other side of the room. When Angel reopened his eyes he saw that two things had changed. One, Willow was now her 18 year old self. And two, she was completely naked. The first fact relieved him, and the second one made him blush the color of Willow's hair.   
  
  
**Part 15**   
  
"Oooof, what was that?" Willow slowly opened her eyes to see little black spots dancing in front of them, like when you look right at the sun. "And did it suddenly get cold in here?" It was then that she realized that she was back to normal, and her lack of clothing. "Ack!!" she tried to cover herself up the best she could. "Don't sit there staring!!!!!" she shot a menacing glare at Angel, who promptly turned his back.   
  
Willow searched the cell for something to put on, and finally she spotted the beach bag in the corner. She grabbed one of the beach towels out of it and wrapped it around herself.   
  
"Can I look now?" Angel asked timidly.   
  
"I'm so embarrassed, I mean you saw me, ALL of me, how can I ever show my face in public again? I'll be so mortified, I'll—" Willow was pacing back and forth in the cell.   
  
"Willow, relax, I'm not going to tell anyone. No one will ever know, it's okay, relax. Sit down you're making me dizzy." Willow stopped her pacing and sat down carefully so that the towel wouldn't separate. Both hers and Angel's faces were varying shades of crimson.   
  
"So, um…" Willow stuttered.   
  
"Yeah, how bout that local sports team?" Angel answered, not knowing what else to say. Willow opened her mouth to answer, but all that came out was giggles. Then for the second time that day they erupted into peals of pure laughter.   
  
"So," Willow wiped the tears away from her eyes, "what were we talking about?"   
  
"I believe it was your crush on John Cusak." Angel said, not wanting to ruin the moment with his brooding about his family.   
  
"Oh yeah!" So for the next couple hours Willow and Angel discussed John Cusak and his many roles, which lead to Mini Driver, which lead to Circle of Friends, which lead to an impromptu lesson in Irish brogue from Angel. Which again sent them into fits of giggles over Willow's horrible accent.   
  
"With the red hair, you'd think your accent would be better."   
  
"Just shut up, at least when I say something it can be understood." She retorted.   
  
"Aye dona' think she can take much more of this cappin'"   
  
"First of all Scotty was Scottish, and since when do you watch Star Trek?" Willow giggled.   
  
Angel just smiled and shrugged.   
  
  
**Part 16**   
  
"I fail to see what is funny about this, pet."   
  
Buffy couldn't stop giggling.   
  
"Slayer, what's so funny?"   
  
"Me…eighteen…undressed…you wanna…and you … can't do jack … shit about it!" She managed to get out between gasps of laughter.   
  
Spike growled. Or tried to. It didn't have quite the same effect when his voice was two octaves higher than usual. Buffy giggled again. Suddenly, Spike groaned.   
  
"Em, pet. I haven't been human for a while now, so maybe you could explain just exactly what I'm feeling?" Spike looked up.   
  
Buffy had calmed down a bit.   
  
"What…what are you feeling, Spike?" She got out, still winded by her laughing session.   
  
"Um, like a burning…down there." He looked up, embarrassed.   
  
"A burning down where?" Then, realization dawned on her. "OH! Down THERE. Uh, you probably just need to go to the bathroom."   
  
Spike cringed.   
  
"What? Spike, what's wrong with going to the bathroom?"   
  
He mumbled something under his breath.   
  
"What? I didn't hear you."   
  
"I said I bloody don't know how!"   
  
"You …don't know how to piss?" Peals of laughter rang through Buffy once again.   
  
"Slayer, it's not funny!"   
  
"You're right…I'm sorry." She snorted. It was another few minutes until she got herself under control. Spike was squirming.   
  
"Um, ok. Let's go over to the corner."   
  
They moved to the corner of the cell, and Buffy looked at Spike.   
  
"Take out your cock."   
  
Spike's eyes widened.   
  
"Do what?"   
  
"Spike, do you wanna feel better or not?"   
  
Spike grumbled as he did as she asked.   
  
"Ok. Now…" She whispered something in his ear.   
  
Spike shook his head as he reached for his cock, and gently held it in his hand. Then he squirmed, and a long stream of urine erupted. Buffy could see the relief evident in his expression, and laughed again. This time, Spike joined her.   
  
"Slayer, I really hope I'm out of this damn body before I have to do that again."   
  
They resumed their thumb wresting championship.   
  
"So do I, Spike. So do I."   



	6. TCAH

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Disclaimer: They all still belong to Joss, despite my attempts to kidnap them.

Part 17 

Finally exhaustion and boredom over took the four friends' minds and they all fell asleep, Willow using Angel's stomach as a pillow, and Buffy and Spike on opposite ends of their cell because Spike swore that the slayer "bloody well almost kicked me to death in 'er sleep". And so it was that they did not here their captor when he silently slipped into the hall where the two cells were housed. The cells themselves were right next to each other, but magically reinforced so that neither couple could hear or see the other, even though they could literally reach out and touch each other through the bars of the cell door. The tall, lean man watched the four as they slept peacefully, unaware that they were being watched. He had debated whether to put the two girls in one cell, and the two vampires in the other, but had finally decided that splitting them into couples would be much more entertaining. Besides, if he got lucky the soon to be vampires would kill the girls thus, eliminating half of his job for him. Truthfully murder wasn't his fortay...magic and mayhem were more to his liking. Murder just had a nasty ring to it, and it always came back to haunt you in the end. But, if the vampires killed the girls he could justify murdering the vampires. Which makes you wonder if killing a vampire can be considered murder since they're already technically dead. Ethan decided that either way they'd cease to exist and he'd still get paid by the mayor. Humming a happy tune to himself he left the hall to prepare the ceremonial room where said mayor would be performing a ritual which would help him on his way towards ascension. The crate of supplies would be arriving anytime now, and there wasn't much time left before the spells wore off. 

Part 18 

Angel was having a very nice dream. In it he and Willow were back at the beach making sand castles as the waves washed in and around them, but never destroyed or swept away any of the sand. They had just completed the north tower and Willow had placed a perfectly shaped scallop shell upon the top in place of a flag. Suddenly Willow grabbed Angel's hand and they were running along the sand, kicking up the surf as they went. Angel was no longer a child, but he was not yet a vampire. 

__

"That's because you're soul is not a child...nor a vampire" 

Willow's voice echoed the words through his head, yet her lips never broke their playful smile as she dragged him towards the pier. Once they reached the tall pilings holding the old wooden structure up, Willow took his hand, and giving him a secretive smile led him through the maze of wooden towers that turned into trees the further they went in. Finally, they reached a clearing in the wood and sunlight streamed down through the golden leaves creating shadows on the earthen floor, telling the story of his existence. 

__

"Your heart is a secret Angel..." 

Willow placed her small hand upon his chest, and her touch was like a kiss, warm and powerful. 

"I'll share my secret with you." 

Angel placed his larger hand over Willow's, and gazed into her hazel eyes. Suddenly, the earth rumbled and lightening streaked across the sky, grounding itself between Willow and himself. 

****

Part 19 

Angel sat up with a start as the white light ripped through his body. The sudden movement causing Willow's head to get catapulted from its resting place, onto the cold cement floor. 

"Um, owwie." Willow rubbed her cheek from where it had hit the floor. "What's happened An--gel?!" 

The last part of Angel's name came out as a squeak as she took in the very luscious and scantily clad vampire before her. Quickly closing her eyes and willing the scarlet blush away from her face and neck Willow sucked in ragged breathes. 

*Half naked Angel, well almost naked Angel because those swim trunks don't quite fit anymore and you can really make out the outline of everything, and there sure is a lot of um, things to be outlined, and Willow!! You so should not be thinking about Angel's things. Angel is Buffy's boyfriend, and just your friend. Even though he will share his secret with you, I don't think that Buffy will appreciate you having naughty thoughts about her Angel...and what secret is he sharing with me?* 

Willow puzzled over her last thought as Angel quickly grabbed the other towel from the swim bag in the corner and wrapped it around his waist. 

"Um, you can open your eyes now Willow, I'm covered...well sort of." Angel sat back down next to Willow and watched a puzzled expression form on her face, but she still didn't open her eyes. "Willow?" Angel placed his hand lightly on her shoulder, only to flinch away when she jumped at his touch. 

"Wha-? Oh, sorry Angel you just startled me. Is it safe to open my eyes?" 

"Yeah, it's safe." 

Willow slowly peaked one eye open and then fully opened both eyes once she saw Angel was no longer sans clothing. 

"So are you back to being all grrrrrrrr?" 

Angel shrugged and then slipped into his game face. Willow squeaked and blanched, so Angel quickly shifted back to his human planes. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-" 

"No, it's okay really, it's just, bad memories and all." 

"Willow, I want to apologize for when I-" 

"But it wasn't you, it was him, and even though he's inside you, you're still not him. Angelus is evil, you, Angel, are my friend, and I wouldn't have it any other way." Willow smiled and hugged him reassuringly. 

"Neither would I." Angel hugged her back and kissed the top of Willow's hair. Just then a huge yawn escaped Willow's mouth. "Sleepy little one?" 

"Yeah, just a little." 

"Here," Angel laid back down and patted his chest, "Why don't you go back to sleep? I promise not to wake you up so suddenly next time." 

It didn't take much to convince her, and soon Willow's small form was cuddled up against Angel's much larger one, his chest pillowing her head, and her arm draped across his stomach, sleeping soundly. 

*A vampire could get used to this.* A small smile tugged at the corners of Angel's mouth as he too drifted into a peaceful sleep, holding Willow's warm body close to him. 


End file.
